2009–10 Section Council Chairs

Access to Justice

Access to Justice 

Jayne B. Tyrrell 

Jayne B. Tyrrell, a Watertown resident, is the executive director of the Massachusetts Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Program (IOLTA).  She is co-chair of the Boston Bar Association Task Force on Expanding the Right to Counsel, as well as a member of the National Coalition on Civil Right to Counsel, the Supreme Judicial Court Working Group on Limited Assistance Representation and the Self-Representation Network. Tyrrell is a former president of the National Association of IOLTA Programs

Access to Justice

Access to Justice 

James T. Van Buren 

James T. Van Buren, a Fairhaven resident, has been a solo practitioner for 29 years, and has practiced in Fitchburg for 34 years. Van Buren is serving his third year as an Access to Justice Section chair and is also a regional delegate in the MBA House of Delegates for Worcester County. In 2005, he was one of 21 statewide representatives appointed to the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, and is now vice chair. Van Buren previously served as president of the Worcester County Bar Association.

Business Law

Business Law 

Stephen Y. Chow 

Stephen Y. Chow, a resident of Boston's West End, is a partner with Burns & Levinson LLP in Boston. He works in all aspects of intellectual property development, financing, licensing and litigation for chemical, electronics, financial, information technology and life sciences enterprises. Chow was appointed a Uniform Law Commissioner by Gov. Weld in 1995, and then reappointed by Gov. Cellucci and Gov. Romney (on whose Judicial Nominating Commission he also served). As a Uniform Law Commissioner and a member of the American Law Institute Chow has worked on model laws and restatements on electronic commerce and the intersection of commercial and intellectual property law. Chow is also, for the second year in a row, a regional delegate in the MBA House of Delegates for Suffolk County and a member of the MBA's Executive Management Board.

Business Law

Business Law 

Francis C. Morrissey 

Francis C. Morrissey, a resident of Milton, is a partner with Morrissey & Wilson LLC, where he focuses on commercial litigation and insolvency matters. Morrissey has extensive experience representing financial institutions, distressed investors, (including hedge funds, private equity funds and strategic investors), creditors and other interested parties in out-of-court work outs and bankruptcy proceedings. He also teaches bankruptcy, creditors' rights and secured transactions at Boston University School of Law Boston and New England Law/Boston. In addition, Morrissey presently serves as a hearing committee member for the Board of Bar Overseers, an arbitrator for the MBA's Legal Fee Arbitration Board and a referee for the Department of Insurance.

Civil Litigation

Civil Litigation 

Christopher A. Kenney 

Christopher A. Kenney, a Sudbury resident, is a founding member and managing shareholder of Kenney & Sams PC, where he focuses on trial and appellate advocacy. He is also New England regional trial counsel for several major corporations. Kenney served as a Special Assistant Attorney General and as an adjunct faculty member at Boston University School of Law. He was awarded the highest rating for by the Martindale Hubbell National Law Directory, ranked one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts by Boston magazine, named a "Superlawyer" and included in the 2009 and 2010 editions of The Best Lawyers in America. Kenney is president-elect of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and past president of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association.

Civil Litigation

Civil Litigation 

Kimberly Y. Jones 

Kimberly Y. Jones, a Framingham resident, is the founder of Athena Legal Strategies Group in Boston, where her practice focuses on providing counsel and representation to corporations, employers and senior executives in labor and employment matters. She is an author and frequent lecturer on employment topics. In 2008, Jones was appointed to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Advisory Board by Gov. Deval Patrick. She is also on the Board of Trustees for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, is on the Boston Bar Journal board of editors and is a member of the Boston Bar Association Council. Jones was recognized as a "Rising Star" in 2006 and was named a Massachusetts "Super Lawyer" in 2006, 2007 and 2008 by Boston magazine.

Criminal Law

Criminal Law 

Michael L. Fabbri 

Michael L. Fabbri, an Ashland resident, is an assistant district attorney with Middlesex County District Attorney's Office and has served that office for more than 20 years. Currently, he is serving as the office's Framingham regional supervisor. His other positions there have included chief of the Special Investigations Unit and deputy chief of the Appeals and Training Bureau. He has also worked at the Attorney General's Office in Boston as an assistant attorney general and served as deputy chief of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Prior to that, he practiced law at Bikofsky, Walker & Tuttle in Framingham.

Criminal Law

Criminal Law 

Gloria Tan 

Gloria Tan, a Newton resident, is a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School's Criminal Justice Institute. Previously she was a public defender staff attorney at the Committee for Public Counsel Services in both the Boston Trial Unit and the Youth Advocacy Project. Tan also lectures and teaches Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education courses and has served as a panelist at juvenile law conferences. She also serves as a member of the Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee and on the Board of Directors of the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts.

Family Law

Family Law 

Thomas J. Barbar 

Thomas J. Barbar, a resident of Boston's South End, is a principal with the family law department at Deutsch Williams, Brooks, DeRensis & Holland PC in Boston, where his practice concentrates on probate and domestic relations. Previously, Barbar was a solo practitioner in West Roxbury. He has testified at the Statehouse on behalf of the MBA regarding family law bills, as well as been a panel participant and chair for probate and family law issues for the Boston Bar Association and the MBA. Barbar is also serving on the MBA's 2009-10 Budget and Finance Committee.

Family Law

Family Law 

Veronica J. Fenton 

Veronica J. Fenton is a solo practitioner in her hometown of Lenox. Her practice concentrates on family law including divorce, custody, modification, paternity and adoption. An active member of the Family Law Section for nearly a decade, she is serving her seventh year on the association's Executive Management Board. Fenton is also serving her third year on the Joint Alimony Task Force of the MBA and BBA. She has also been on the faculty for MBA education programs and the planning committee for the MBA's Family Law Conference. Previously, Fenton was a law clerk for Judge Charles J. Bowser Jr. in the Probate and Family Court, was an associate at the Boston office of Bingham McCutchen LLP and legal counsel for the Department of Social Services.

General Practice, Solo & Small Firm

General Practice, Solo & Small Firm  

John B. DiSciullo 

John B. DiSciullo, a Newton resident, is a partner at Mitchell & DeSimone in Boston, where he practices civil litigation in areas including plaintiff's personal injury, insurance defense, insurance coverage, business disputes and construction defects. He has been recognized in Boston Magazine as a Massachusetts Rising Star and Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year since 2005.

General Practice, Solo & Small Firm

General Practice, Solo & Small Firm  

Peter T. Elikann 

Peter T. Elikann, a resident of Boston's Beacon Hill, is an author, Boston-based criminal defense attorney and regular expert legal commentator on the Court TV and other networks. He is a former television news reporter whose previous books are Superpredators: The Demonization of Our Children by the Law (Perseus, 1999) and The Tough On Crime Myth (Plenum, 1996). A longtime MBA member, Elikann is a former chair of the Criminal Justice Section Council. He has been recognized in Boston Magazine as a Massachusetts and New England Super Lawyer.

Health Law

Health Law 

George M. Thompson Jr. 

George M. Thompson Jr. practices at Sager & Schaffer LLP in Westborough. A Westborough resident, he is a member and former chairman of the Westborough Board of Selectmen and served on the Westborough School Committee from 2000 to 2006. Thompson is an adjunct professor of insurance law at Southern New England School of Law in Dartmouth and is currently on the Advisory Board of Health Law Advocates.

Immigration Law

Immigration Law 

Marisa A. DeFranco 

Marisa A. DeFranco practices at The Law Office of Marisa DeFranco in Salem. She specializesin business-based immigration, family immigration, as well as the representation of children in the foster care system. DeFranco has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1998, and has served as a director on the National Board of Governors and as president of the New England Chapter, 2005-06. DeFranco is also a state commissioner on the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, also serving as treasurer.

Immigration Law

Immigration Law 

Elizabeth Goss 

Elizabeth Goss, a resident of Boston's South End, practices at Tocci Goss & Lee PC in Boston. She specializes in the representation of physicians, researchers, trainees and students in the higher education and health care fields securing their temporary and permanent visas. She is nationally recognized for her expertise in representing professors, scientists, and artists under the extraordinary ability, outstanding researcher, and national interest waiver immigrant visa categories. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Association of International Educators.

Individual Rights & Responsibilities

Individual Rights & Responsibilities  

Laurence M. Johnson 

Laurence M. Johnson is a shareholder at Davis, Malm & D'Agostine PC in Boston, where he practices in the area of trials and appeals of complex business litigation. He has been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year between 2004 and 2008. Johnson is president, trustee, and an Oliver Wendell Holmes life fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the philanthropic entity of the MBA. He is also a member of both the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee and Supreme Judicial Court Law Clerks' Society and, for over 30 years, a director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Johnson is a member of the Boston Bar Association and American Bar Association as well as a life member of the American Law Institute and an elected Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He lives in Randolph with his wife, Margie Serrano.

Individual Rights & Responsibilities

Individual Rights & Responsibilities  

Steven L. Wollman 

Steven L. Wollman is a partner at Davids & Wollman in Swampscott, where he concentrates his practice in domestic relations and cases with the Department of Children and Families. He has served on the MBA's House of Delegates, Executive Management Board and Community Services Committee. The first Massachusetts Bar Foundation Fellow to become an Oliver Wendell Holmes Fellow, Wollman's work within the foundation has also earned him the MBF's Great Friend of Justice Award and the Ronan Award for Jurisprudence from the Essex County Bar Association. He lives with his wife of over 20 years, Nora Wollman, in Peabody, where he is an avid fisherman.

Judicial Administration

Judicial Administration 

Hon. Gordon L. Doerfer (ret.) 

Hon Gordon L. Doerfer (ret.), a Needham resident, is a mediator and arbitrator on the panel of neutrals at JAMS, The Resolution Experts in Boston, where he specializes in the arbitration and mediation of business disputes. He is also on the adjunct faculty of Suffolk University Law School, where he teaches trial practice and previously served as adjunct faculty at Boston College Law School. Doerfer retired from the bench after 25 years of service, including four years on the Boston Municipal Court, 15 years on the Superior Court and six years as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Doerfer is a recipient of a Judicial Excellence Award from the Massachusetts Judges Conference. Previously, he was an associate and junior partner in civil litigation at Nutter McLennan and Fish and a partner at Palmer and Dodge, both in Boston.

Judicial Administration

Judicial Administration 

James C. Donnelly Jr. 

James C. Donnelly Jr., a Worcester resident, is a partner at Mirick, O'Connell, DeMallie & Lougee LLP in Worcester, where he concentrates his practice on complex civil litigation and business disputes. Donnelly has more than 30 years of experience in trial and appellate courts in Massachusetts, and was recently appointed the chief justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court to the Business Litigation Session Advisory Committee. He is a trustee and current president of the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester. He has served in the past as a trustee and treasurer of the American Antiquarian Society, a trustee of the Worcester Center for Crafts. He is currently a corporator of the greater Worcester Community Foundation and the Worcester Art Museum.

Juvenile & Child Welfare

Juvenile & Child Welfare 

Peter A. Hahn 

Peter A. Hahn, a Cambridge resident, practices at Hilton, Sindelar & Hahn in Newton, where he advocates for families and children in many practice areas, including juvenile delinquency and CHINS cases, Department of Children and Families investigations and Fair Hearings, student discipline and special education matters, and criminal cases for young adults and people with disabilities. Hahn previously served on both the MBA's Criminal Justice Section Council and the Juvenile Justice Practice Group. He is a former middle and high school teacher.

Juvenile & Child Welfare

Juvenile & Child Welfare 

Martha Rush O'Mara 

Martha Rush O'Mara, a Melrose resident, practices at the Law Office of Martha Rush O'Mara in the area of children's law in the Boston Juvenile Court and the Probate and Family Court. An attorney for nearly 20 years, Rush O'Mara serves as a regional delegate in the MBA House of Delegates for Middlesex County. She also sits on the MBA's Executive Management Board, Governance Committee and Membership Committee. Rush O'Mara is chair of the Board of Directors of the Mass. Legal Assistance Corp and is serving her second term on the Massachusetts Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Committee.

Labor & Employment Law

Labor & Employment Law 

Thomas J. Gallitano 

Thomas J. Gallitano is a partner at Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch & Ford LLP in Boston, where he has a diverse civil and commercial litigation practice concentrating in the areas of employment law, professional liability and business litigation. He serves as co-chair of the firm's Employment Law Practice Group and on the firm's Management Committee. Gallitano was recognized in 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Boston magazine as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer. In 2007 and 2008 he was recognized as a Top 100 Super Lawyer in both Massachusetts and New England in the areas of employment and business litigation. In 2007, Gallitano was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to serve as Chair of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) Advisory Board. He is also a past hearing officer for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. Gallitano lives in Brookline, where he is a member of Town Meeting and coaches youth soccer.

Labor & Employment Law

Labor & Employment Law 

Dahlia C. Rudavsky 

Dahlia C. Rudavsky is a partner in the Boston firm of Messing, Rudavsky & Weliky PC, where she concentrates her practice on the representation of individual employees and unions, with an emphasis on discrimination cases. She was named one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's "Lawyers of the Year" for 1999, in 2002 was recognized by Boston magazine in its "Best of Boston" list of employment law attorneys, and in 2005 was a Massachusetts Super Lawyer and one of the Top 50 Female Super Lawyers identified by Boston magazine. She has been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year since. Rudavsky is the past chair of the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association's MCAD/EEOC Committee, and is a former member of the steering committee of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee. She has served as lecturer in law at Harvard Law School, where she taught labor law. She lives in Newton.

Law Practice Management

Law Practice Management  

Rodney S. Dowell 

Rodney S. Dowell is director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, which assists Massachusetts attorneys in establishing and institutionalizing professional office practices and procedures in order to increase their ability to deliver high quality legal services, strengthen client services and enhance their quality of life. Prior to starting LOMAP, he was a founding partner at the litigation firm of Berman & Dowell, where he focused on employment law, tort defense and insurance coverage from 1998 to 2007. He lives in Melrose.

Law Practice Management

Law Practice Management  

Andrea Goldman 

Andrea Goldman is the principal at the Law Office of Andrea Goldman in Newton, where she focuses on helping parties resolve disputes in construction, homeowner/contractor, real estate and business matters through litigation, arbitration and mediation. Goldman also advises construction and corporate clients on contracts and other legal issues in managing their businesses. She is a member of the American Bar Association where she is the co-chair of the Construction Law Committee of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division. She is also a member of the Women's Bar Association, and was co-chair of their Middlesex County Committee and runs a mentoring circle. She lives in Newton.

Probate Law

Probate Law 

John G. Dugan 

John G. Dugan is a partner at Doherty, Ciechanowski, Dugan & Cannon PC in Franklin, where he concentrates his practice on trusts and estates, probate practice and family law. He is a former vice president of the MBA and is a past president of both the Bar Association of Norfolk County and the Western Norfolk County Bar Association. In 1999, he was awarded the Outstanding Service Award by South Middlesex Legal Services Inc. He lives in Millis.

Probate Law

Probate Law 

Janice C. Nigro 

Janice C. Nigro is a partner at Nigro, Pettepit & Lucas LLP in Wakefield, where she practices in the areas of probate administration and litigation, trust litigation, estate planning and elder law. She is a member of the Essex County Bar Association, First District Eastern Middlesex Bar Association, Newburyport Bar Association, Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Massachusetts National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Nigro is board member of The Angel Fund, a non-profit organization with goals of raising research funds and awareness for ALS, and a past board member of Christ Church Nursery School in Hamilton. She lives in Hamilton.

Property Law

Property Law 

Elizabeth J. Barton 

Elizabeth J. Barton, a resident of Natick, is a title insurance underwriter with CATIC in its Eastern Massachusetts office. Before joining CATIC, Barton conducted title examinations and managed other examiners for Attorneys Title Services in Wellesley and at the Suffolk District Registry of Deeds. Following her work as an underwriter for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company, she practiced law with a small commercial firm in Andover. Barton lectures for the MBA, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and the Real Estate Bar Association. Barton is also a member of the Middlesex County Bar Association, the Women's Bar Association, REBA and the Merrimac Valley Bar Association.

Property Law

Property Law 

Laurel H. Siegel 

Laurel H. Siegel has practiced commercial and residential real estate law for 15 years. Prior to starting her solo practice in 2008, Siegel was a principal at Siegel, Wagner & Swartz LLC in Boston, where she was the managing member of the real estate department. Previously, Siegel practiced at Kotin, Crabtree & Strong LLC. Siegel was one of the real estate "Rising Stars" in Law & Politics magazine's Super Lawyers listings in 2006 and 2007. Siegel is a member of REBA and serves on its legislative committee. The Medford resident is on the Board of Directors of the Medford Square Market, a member of the Medford Chamber of Commerce and involved with the Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance.

Public Law

Public Law 

Margaret J. Hurley 

Margaret J. Hurley is chief of the Attorney General's Central Massachusetts Regional Office and director of the Attorney General's Municipal Law Unit in Worcester. Previously, She worked in private practice in Boston and Worcester representing various cities and towns. Hurley serves on the Executive Committees of the City Solicitor and Town Counsel Association and the Worcester County Bar Association. She is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and a Hearing Committee member of the Board of Bar Overseers. The Grafton resident has served on the Planning Board and Town Administrator Screening Committee.

Public Law

Public Law 

Barbara J. Saint Andre 

Barbara J. Saint Andre is a principal of Petrini & Associates PC in Framingham, where she concentrates on municipal and land use law and litigation. Previously, she served as a principal at Kopelman and Paige PC in Boston in the area of municipal law, practiced general law at Murphy, Lamere and Murphy in Braintree and served one year as a Massachusetts Superior Court law clerk. Saint Andre is a member of the Real Estate Bar Association and the City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association.

Taxation Law

Taxation Law 

Thomas G. Collins 

Thomas G. Collins, a resident of Needham, is a partner at McCarter & English, LLP in Boston, where he focuses on tax-exempt financing and business tax planning. Collins co-authored the chapter on "Tax-Exempt Bonds" in Commerce Clearing House's Federal Tax Service, and is a frequent lecturer. An American Bar Association member, Collins has served as the chair of the Committee on Low-Income Taxpayers of the ABA's Section of Taxation, as vice chair of the Public Construction Financing Committee of the ABA's Section of Public Contract Law and as a member of the ABA's Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. Collins is also a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers.

Taxation Law

Taxation Law 

Lisa M. Rico 

Lisa Rico, an Ashland resident, is a partner in McCarter & English's Private Clients Group and a member of the firm's Public Finance Group, focusing on estate planning probate and tax law. She also provides tax advice to partnerships and other pass through entities. She has authored numerous materials on estate planning issues. Rico is co-vice chair of the Estate Planning and Administration for Business Owners, Farmers and Ranchers Committee of the ABA's Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section and was previously on both the ABA Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section's Income and Transfer Tax Planning Group's Task Force as well as its Business Planning Group's Task Force.

Young Lawyers Division

Young Lawyers Division 

David S. Bradley 

David S. Bradley is a Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney in the Major Felony Bureau and is the point prosecutor for non-fatal arsons. During his six years in the office, Bradley has handled all aspects of criminal cases and worked on a wide array of cases. He has also handled cases through the appeals process, successfully arguing cases in the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Previously, Bradley worked in private practice at Craig and Macauley PC and volunteered at Shelter Legal Services.

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